Mahia Matriarch
Published in Hawke’s Bay Weekend 24 May 2003
If Pauline Tangiora is denied speaking rights at a hui she’ll probably bang her walking stick on the floor, ignore the ugly stares — and through the Chair demand an audience because she believes in freedom of speech.
It’s a fearless public attitude that’s dogged her over the years.
But that belief system has flung her all over the world where she’ll stand up anywhere and have her say because if it’s important to her, it’s usually important for somebody else.
Surrounding her is a no humbug kind of aura. And if she is organising a protest about something or other, she’ll tell you flat staying silent on an issue means not standing up, not being counted... and the world will pass you by.
“If we don’t stand up and be counted, we will lose our resources, the world passes us by.”
There is no time to darn socks. She’s got the get up and go of a teenager, and the wisdom of an elder. The world doesn’t pass Pauline Tangiora by because determination will not let it — she’s out of New Zealand boarding the next plane.
Basically it’s her work for disarmament alongside vigorous involvement with human rights and peace-related causes which consume her.
Recently she returned from Iraq two weeks before war broke out, showed up for a television show, and turned a TV interview down because she was on her way to Wellington when they wanted her in Auckland. She’s busy.
Even now she’s at her Mahia home working on posters for school children who want to hear about her trip to Baghdad. But it’s not been easy for her. She’s feeling sad about the war because it’s killing innocent women and children whom she probably met on her visit to Baghdad and other cities of Iraq. Also she believes deep down the war could have been avoided through negotiation.
“I thought Mandela would negotiate a peaceful resolution but it didn’t happen after the way Iraq President, Saddam Hussein was treated.” Sad memories of Iraqi children in hospital beds were fresh in her mind. They were a people already suffering. She visited hospital wards where not just a few children, but many, were attached to drips and talking to pharmacists, who were crying out for more medicine because they knew what they had was not enough.
“The heart-wrenching thing is to see their parents, to see the hope in their eyes, they think their children can live.
“There are no nurses for the children in hospital, few back-up staff and not enough medicines to make a cocktail of medicine which is needed to attack the disease properly.”
She spoke to one pharmacist who said his people could not even get in a computer to help break down blood for transfusions because it was feared the computer would be turned into a bomb.
Cancer was a big problem. “Breast cancer in Iraqi women is rife and hundreds of children are dying of cancer.” She met a young woman who was 18 and at university during the missile attacks of 1991. She saw a little leg poking from the woman’s scarf. Inside was a two week old baby suffering from leukaemia. The baby was no bigger then her hand. “The people are still recovering from the battering of Uranium tipped missiles 12 years ago and I’ve seen what the women and children are suffering, and will continue to suffer for generations to come.”
“It is devastating to see what has happened in the last 12 years, particularly after the sanctions were put in by the United Nations. They have only hurt the people and the children of Iraq."
“You are talking about 24-26 million people being denied cocktails of medicines for diseases resulting from uranium- tipped missiles.
“Our Government has got to lobby United Nations to lift the sanctions.”
Even good food cannot be found.
“There is no protein in the soil either, they can’t even grow vegetables which are good for them to eat. “Depleted uranium can go through a steel tank and one thing about war that affects us all is the destruction of Mother Earth.
“Once fragments from the bombs gel into the atmosphere it can be blown all around the world. It is particularly bad for those people suffering from a weak immune system. War is bad for every body.” Pauline took supplies. She was laden with gifts including natural manuka honey and cream that helped soothe the scab-infest& legs of many of the women in hospitals she visited. There were peace posters drawn by pupils of Te Mahia School, now decorating children’s wards and schools, harakeke flowers as well as small stones with paua shells given as koha for people who hosted her.
And it was a two-way street. Pauline was often given sweets or gifts were dropped off at the hotel she was staying at. One such gift was a brightly coloured hand-crafted mat. “I was given this mat, and it reminds me of the Iraqi people because it is made with such cheerful colours that is the beauty about these people, they are happy in spite of their hardships.”
The people gained her quiet admiration. “They were so respectful and hospitable, they are generous people and we need to help our brothers and sisters who are being maligned for their resources and abuse of grass roots hospitality.”
Pauline feels the war on Iraq was immoral. “There were protests outside the American Embassy because President Bush had gone in without a mandate from the United Nations.”
But people across the world were being counted. “We can make a difference by saying enough is enough. I know by being there it gave solidarity to the Iraqi people that there are women around the world who care. “Out of this we have to find someone who can mediate with President Bush and turn him away from war because the really sad thing is innocent women and children are being kified who are desperate to get out of the war zone— it’s criminal.”
She was proud of all the people who turned out all over the world to protest for peace, and praised Prime Minister Helen Clark for listening to the voice of the people even though she was pressured into sending Kiwi troops to war.
There was praise also for the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Maori Women’s Welfare League, Aotearoa Foundation for Peace Studies and individuals who sent in donations which covered her trip.
“I decided to go to Iraq after a dream and it made me feel happy because I took the best wishes of organisations and peace wishes of ordinary New Zealanders with me.”
“I’m grateful to those people who sent me donations, it meant a lot to me.” Pauline adds: “It is most satisfying to think any skills I might have can be used for the benefit of other people. If anything, I wanted to know how the people themselves felt, and the truth about this war deserves to be told.
“The Iraqi people told me it wasn’t just about oil, it’s about America taking control of the Middle East.” The trip to Iraq was one of many she has made overseas furthering her stancefor world peace.
Pauline is heavily involved with world indigenous people, especially with Rigoberta Menchu who is a Nobel Peace Laureate (Indigenous Initiative for Peace). Much of her work abroad began with the nuclear testing in the late 1950s. At that time she was a young mother with many family responsibilities, and the thought of the possible damage to her ancestral lands and the rest of the Pacific made her determined to take action.
Pauline is affiliated to the Rongomaiwahine tribe and to other tribes up and down the East Coast. She is a trained family counsellor and justice liaison, Pauline was appointed Justice of the Peace in 1988, is involved in support groups for the unemployed and for the rehabilitation of youths.
She is also into her 38th year of prison visits. “I like to awhi (embrace) Maori and others in prison because we have to show people we still love and still care for them. A lot of them come out of prison feeling scared.”
She has promoted peace and conflict resolutions in schools and was visiting lecturer on Multiculture in Education at the Massey University in 1986 and 1987.
Pauline is a member of the Eastern Institute Technology Maori Consultative. She is the Regional Women’s Representative for the World Council for Indigenous Peoples, an Earth Charter Commissioner, a member of the Earth Council, a life member of the Maori Women’s Welfare League, chaired the World Forum of Fisher Peoples and a Patron of the Peace Foundation.
In 1989 Pauline was awarded the Queen’s Service Medal for her community work and in 1990 she received the New Zealand Commemoration Medal.
Pauline has represented indigenous people and women for the United Nations World conference on Human Rights, the UN Year of Indigenous Peoples, the UN conference on Small Island Developing States and the UN conference for women, and is passionate about literacy and education.
“When young people tap me on the shoulder up and down the country asking me what they can do for world peace, I say to them to ‘stay at school, and get educated’, an education at university is the direction for young people to go.”